The Westministenders Hunger Games continues. Boris still trying not to be outmanoevered.

[RedToothBrush]

Clearly Boris didn't get the memo, on when to quit the power games, even after Gove schooled him in the dark arts of the Tory Leadership....

So the Tory Smackdown rolls on whilst Corbyn STILL clings on. UKIP has now entered the race to make a challenge for who can make the biggest leadership contest shambles.

In The Blue Corner
May strikes fear into the hearts of EU citizens as she counts her bargaining chips.
Gove strikes fear into the hearts of humans, with his Martian twitch.
Loathsom strikes fear in the hearts of Britains by talking about babies brains.
Crabb strikes fear into the hearts of Torys by suggesting a plan that Corbyn might like. (and that beard doesn't help).
And Fox.
Well he just turned up.

Johnson is still waiting in the wings to stab Gove. He'd quite fancy a seat at the cabinet table too.
Osborne has gone quite again and we wait with baited breathe to see if he is the 'Charlie off Casualty' of the Tory Party (y'know whatever happens he somehow survives like a cockroach).

In The Red Corner
Corbyn apologies. So we know he's getting a bit desperate.
Will the Unions figure out something else to do other than sit with their head in hands.
Angela Eagle is still doing jellyfish impressions and hasn't found that backbone.
We STILL don't know who the fuck Owen Smith is?
Will Bliar's chicken's finally come home to roost?
The Cult of Momentum, rumbles on. We aren't quite sure who they actually vote for, but they seem to like their Dear Leader.
When will this country next have an opposition party?

Its kinda getting boring guys, we need some action now. End the Chicken Coup! The Tories are definitely out doing in the high drama stakes.

In the Purple Corner
Farage has gone! Hurrah. We hope only that he stays under that rock.
(Don't count on it. They'll wheel him out when they need publicity)
Will Leadsom be elected leader? Oh sorry, wrong party. I was getting confused for a second there.
Will they throw the cuckoo Carswell out? [:)]
Will they be able to find a less offensive leader than Farage who can unite them in their common goal of errrr..... yeah. That.
How long before one of their candidates has to apologise for something?

And I suppose I should ask, when will a50 be triggered....? And by whom?

All these questions and more.
Sense of humour compulsory. No experience necessary though

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/eu_referendum_2016_/2670552-Has-Boris-been-outmanoeuvred?pg=1 Previous thread 1

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/eu_referendum_2016_/2672388-Has-Boris-been-outmanoevered-Will-someone-please-tell-me-who-is-in-charge Previous thread 2

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/eu_referendum_2016_/a2673982-Have-Boris-and-Jeremy-been-stabbed-in-the-back-Please-can-we-have-some-leaders Previous thread 3

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/eu_referendum_2016_/2675432-Boris-outmaneovered-Et-tu-Gove-Corbyn-The-Westministenders-Hunger-Games-Continues? Previous thread 4

Chalalala - meh, it's only being PM and negotiating out exit from the EU and our entire future. Of course a couple of years as a junior non-cabinet minister is fine - I mean Johnson thought he could give it a go, so why can't Leadsome. It's not like it's important or anything, it's all just a big game, can't you tell?

Someone in Labour has found a backbone and stood up to criticise the government, as has Tim Farron, just in case we'd forgotten him again, on Sats results:
"Tim Farron, the Lib Dem leader, said: “These Sats results show starkly that they are gambling the futures of these young people on Michael Gove’s misty-eyed world view where every school is a prep or grammar school, students are robotic and teachers skip around teaching past participles and antonyms by rote to 7 year olds. It sounds more like an Enid Blyton book than reality.”
And then there’s this from Lucy Powell, who resigned from Labour’s front bench last week: “Nicky Morgan should spend less time sucking up to Tory leadership candidates and more time trying to sort out the mess they have created. There’s no dressing these results up - there has been a big drop in results and standards have fallen due to the chaos and confusion in assessment created by Tory Ministers past and present.”
The new-look Sats show a bigger gap in attainment in reading and maths than in previous years, which the DfE and Morgan attribute to the new tougher Sats."

Letwin - it wasn't possible to construct a negotiating strategy in advance. Also Cameron felt he had no mandate to carry on, despite the letter from 84 MPs on polling day.

May's campaign team on EU Nationals in the UK:
At last nights meeting of the 1922 committee Theresa was very clear about the position of EU nationals in Britain, and argued that it was equally important to consider the rights of British nationals living abroad. Her position is that we will guarantee the legal status of EU nationals in Britain as long as British nationals living in EU countries have their status guaranteed too.

Letwin on EU commissioner - I don't know when we will appoint one, it's not up to me, the Prime Minister will do it, in the normal way.
He is talking about Cameron, not the new PM

I keep missing bits of Letwin, because the child wants lunch, but they asked how it will work if Cameron appoints a commissioner and the new PM is a Leaver and wants someone different, he seems to have said that that's the new PM's problem, and they are welcome to call the Commission when one is appointed to ask how they will deal with it.
Letwin did ok, I think, considering that his remit is fairly narrow, and the committee were asking things quite beyond his range, he didn't get stroppy or sarcastic, was very even tempered, but at the same time, didn't get into a whole lot of detail on the more controversial aspects (although I only watched the last half hour)

Welsh MP has just described this morning's European Parliament session as 'bad tempered'

That's an accurate enough description.

Chances of getting UKIP to button it and rein it in = 0% though.

We would be better off withdrawing all our MEPs at this rate!

It is interesting that so little noise has been made about British nationals living in European countries actually. By our own government.

It's like they don't want the pensioners back from Spain or something

But in all seriousness, I do think it odd.

Conservative Party leader preference:
T. May: 54%
A. Leadsom: 20%
M. Gove: 9%
S. Crabb: 5%
L. Fox: 5%
(via YouGov / 01-04/07)
Con members.

Fantastic thread. I'm learning so much. Thank you Red

Age weighed Brexit result
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/here-s-what-would-have-happened-if-brexit-vote-was-weighted-by-age-a7120536.html
In the end it is more of a commentary on apathy than age...

It is a long time since I have posted anything on here but I just wanted to say thank you for these threads. We are in a scary time. It reminds me of the uncertainty of the last big crash. I am at my desk watching the pound falling and my costs increasing. I am worried that Leadsom will jump in with all guns blazing. We will hit the point of no return with no benefits agreed and the pound will dive again. At least May will be more measured. The pound has dropped from 1.55 this time last year to 1.31 today and nothing has happened yet. Please keep your updates coming.

Lunch break.

Fascinating article there, Red, from the Oxford demographer.

Is it just me, or does George Osborne do a weird tilting his head to one side thing?

I've noticed it too. It's not adorable.

Mark Carney kicking ass again though... Carney for PM! (btw he's Canadian, therefore entitled to vote in the referendum... wonder what he voted. Actually I probably know.)

MrsLupo late to the party, but thank you for the clarification. i was REALLY puzzled why his name was cropping up and clearly I heard Jones for Smith. lol

I can't say I know anyone that would think an endorsement from Nicky Morgan as a positive thing She's a wee treasure isn't she. I don't understand why she's in the Cabinet at all.

Just when you thought loosing shadow cabinet members was a Labour skill...

Alistair Burt, has just told MPs that he will leave the government when the new prime minister takes over. This is from the Telegraph’s Ben Riley-Smith.

Today there are a few really good articles doing a post-mortem on Brexit. These are all good, more informative than the emotional stuff we've seen. It sheds light on the media, decision making and how political strategy tries to influence that.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/how-personality-differences-may-explain-who-voted-for-brexit-a7120626.html How Personality differences may explain Brexit.

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/jul/05/media-should-rethink-coverage-in-wake-of-brexit-vote-says-justin-webb Comment on the failure of the BBC to pull up the lies in the Brexit campaign.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/05/how-remain-failed-inside-story-doomed-campaign Inside the Stronger in campaign:

Cameron's gamble (Or what the fuck went wrong)
This is a simply brilliant article. Long, but worth a read to understand what happened in any depth.

And finally:
time.com/4392781/brexit-eu-less-skeptical/?xid=tcoshare How Brexit is making eurosceptics in the rest of the EU value what they have.

Was just reading the Guardian Long Read on campaign strategy. It's painful.

On the other hand, the Times article is the first good news in days

In the days after the Brexit camp won the June 23 referendum on Britain’s continued presence in the EU, speculation turned to whether the pro-Leave victory would have a kind of domino effect, in which emboldened right-wing parties in France, Holland and elsewhere would push for referendums on EU membership, and destroy the EU in the process.

It seems–for now, at least–as if those fears were misplaced.

In a series of polls taken since the Brexit vote, support for the EU has actual risen in some member countries that were previously lukewarm on the institution.

Britain's misfortune does have the positive side effect of providing an example - a repeat of the Leave campaign could never happen in France or in the Netherlands, because now people can point to the promises made by British Leavers and show them for the scam that they were.

It also means the need to punish the UK may be less...

Which is cold comfort but at least is some comfort.

Chalala That is good news - just a shame that it's at the expense of us being a world laughing stock

Maybe it will also work against Trump too? Just send Boris and Nigel over on a tour - that'll do it

Maybe it will also work against Trump too?

If Britain can pull this off, Brexit may yet come down in the history books as a noble, selfless act of sacrifice for the greater good!

Delurking - it's taken me four threads to get to the end of one in real time!

I just wanted to say re A50 and revoke - a PP said the French legal services had said this was possible. My best friend is a barrister and she was at a conference yesterday with (I think she said) about 250 legal experts, all to a greater or a lesser degree shitting themselves about Brexit, and this seems to be the conclusion they've come to as well. So, a possibility, if there's a mandate for it in the next GE?

politicalscrapbook.net/2016/07/watch-ken-clarke-says-tory-leader-contest-an-utter-fiasco-and-gove-would-start-three-wars/
Ken Clarke: “I think with Michael [Gove] as Prime Minister we’d go to war with at least three countries at once.”
Not mincing his words then.